About half of all callers phone in for automated information — mostly alternate-side parking, said Nick Sbordone, a 311 spokesman.

A good chunk of those who stay on the line to speak with a human are doing what New Yorkers do best: kvetching. About 25% of callers have some form of complaint or service request –- from noisy neighbors to requests for the city to discard their old refrigerators. (Residents, said Sbordone, are not supposed to put appliances that contain freon in the trash.)

According to city data obtained by the Journal, over the past six years, the borough calling in with the most complaints was Brooklyn, with 4.33 million complaints. The second highest number came from Queens with 3.35 million, followed by Manhattan with 3.21 million, the Bronx with 2.56 million and Staten Island with 782,000.

But that doesn’t make Brooklyn the whiniest borough. (At least, not by this measure.) The volume of complaints is pretty much in proportion to population, and Brooklyn is the city’s most populous borough. Measured per capita, residents of Manhattan log the most complaints, followed by the Bronx, then Brooklyn. Staten Island came in fourth, while residents of Queens are the least likely to complain.

Citywide, the top three gripes from 2004 to the present are inadequate heating, noise and building maintenance issues such as peeling paint and broken intercoms. Among the weirder complaints New Yorkers have made: issues with calorie labeling and the illegal sale of animals.

In Manhattan, the most common complaint so far this fiscal year has been lost property in taxis, followed by inadequate heating. Heating complaints were the most common gripe for residents of Brooklyn and the Bronx, while in Queens and Staten Island, residents called mostly to complain about street conditions like potholes and broken streetlights.